Raccoon
Scientific Name
Procyon lotor
About this Species
Raccoons live throughout the United States in a wide variety of habitats from woods and wetlands to suburbs, parks, and cities. They are a classic “ecological generalist” which means that they can survive and even thrive in many different environments. As omnivores (which eat plants, animals and fungi), raccoons have varied diets of nuts, berries, grasshoppers and other invertebrates, vertebrates such as mice and other small mammals, bird eggs and hatchlings, and much more. Raccoons are opportunistic feeders, able to eat whatever food sources are available, so you might find them eating berries from a bush or sneaking food from garbage cans in urban areas. Raccoons are nocturnal (primarily active at night). Raccoons can live for up to 20 years but tend to live only 2-3 years in the wild. They are primarily solitary except from January to June during the breeding season. Females may have 3 to 7 offspring in one year.
Conservation Status
Least Concern. Common in Missouri.
How we’re Studying this species
We have GPS tagged nearly a dozen raccoons in Forest Park, including raccoons in Kennedy Woods and successional Forest. We are also using motion-triggered wildlife cameras to document raccoon activity in the park. We collect health samples from tagged raccoons as well as from deceased raccoons (e.g., roadkill) that we find in the park
